MONTEVERDI (THE BEST OF)

Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) was a musical revolutionary who championed the new style
of music that replaced intricate Renaissance counterpoint with the more theatrical music of
the early Baroque. Yet he was a master in both these styles, as this selection from his loveliest
madrigals and most famous opera and sacred works shows. Whether praising the divine or
lamenting the pain of mortal love, Monteverdi remains a composer whose music can melt the
hardest heart and set the soul dancing.